Marcus Lyon, a British photographic artist, founded his studio in a large dilapidated glass factory in Kennington, London, 25 years ago. The area is hidden just south east of Westminster and Waterloo, popular with MP’s and the creative communities alike, it has undergone significant regeneration in the very recent past and provides an inspirational working environment at the heart of the city. Lyon’s career success tracks a similar path, in 1990 he bought a small brown-field plot of land and founded the multidisciplinary art studio, The Glassworks: a gallery, exhibition venue and centre of production for collaborative and original art. Outside his art practice Lyon is a director of Somerset House and a significant portrait artist. In that role he has been commissioned to photograph a diverse range of public figures, from Queen Elizabeth II, to the actor Bill Nighy and the last four British Prime Ministers.

Over the course of his 30-year art career, Lyon has explored themes of global expansion and social migration in the modern world, searching for meaning in our mass behaviours. From micro to the macro explorations of the issues at the heart of globalization, the megacity and migration, his work stimulates thinking about the relationship between man and the natural world.

During the interview, Lyon radiates an infectious enthusiasm for the all he does, as an artist, a determined social entrepreneur and an active public speaker on both photography and development.